Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

May 1, 2015 - May 18, 2015

Event Navigation

A fictional film based on real events. In Israel there is neither civil marriage nor civil divorce. Only rabbis can legitimate a marriage or its dissolution. But this dissolution is only possible with full consent from the husband, who in the end has more power than the judges. Viviane has been applying for divorce (a gett) for three years. But her domineering husband will not agree. His cold intransigence collides with Viviane’s determination to fight for her freedom in this “gripping film from start to finish.” — NY Times

♦ The brilliance of Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem is that, without a shift in tone, the film begins to seem like a tragedy populated by clowns, its males clinging to ancient laws to compensate for feebleness of character. — New York Magazine

♦ Viviane is at once a fleshed-out character, a political metaphor, a shout to heaven and earth. The movie’s title brings to mind all those novels named after their protagonists, especially women with tribulations (Jane Eyre, Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina), but the word trial also almost predictably suggests Franz Kafka. Gripping cinema from start to finish. –NY Times